Let’s have a parade for fuck sake. Why not call it treason. Why not. But he’s only joking says the WH ….
White House staff secretary Rob Porter, a top aide to President Donald Trump, has resigned, the White House confirmed Wednesday, following allegations of abuse from his two ex-wives …
“Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor and I can’t say enough good things about him. He is a friend, a confidante and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him,” Kelly said in a statement.

The Dow dropped a total of 1175.21 points today in heavy trading. This is the biggest single day drop IN HISTORY. Trump was trumpeting the fact that the market was setting all kinds of records and took plenty of credit for this when it had little to do with his actions, or with those of any other human. The economy has a mind of its own.

The Business Cycle

The Business Cycle goes through periods of expansion/inflation, recession, troughs and peaks. The Federal Reserve regulates open market operations by which government bonds are bought or sold in order to respectively increase or decrease the money supply. In other words, when the Federal Reserve decides to buy bonds from individual consumers, businesses and corporate entities, it is attempting to put money in people’s’ pockets to help combat a real or anticipated recession.

Alternately, during periods of inflation, in order to curb the money supply, the Reserve, the equivalent of our Bank of Canada, will sell bonds, thus taking money out of peoples’ pockets. In this situation, people exchange money for government bonds.

The Reserve and the BOC (Bank of Canada) also use interest rates to control the money supply. During periods of expansion during the Business Cycle, the Bank Rate will be raised while during periods of economic contraction, the Bank Rate (BR) will be lowered, making it more attractive to borrow and spend money, thus assisting in economic expansion.

A third way the Reserve and the BOC operate to control the money supply is through a policy of moral suasion.

The government itself, through its spending and taxation policies also operates as an economic regulator. Increased taxation coupled with decreased government spending would be the methodology used to combat inflation and decreased taxation coupled with increased spending would be introduced to fight recession.

Even with all this, the ups and downs of the Business Cycle march on. All the government and the Reserve/ BOC can accomplish is to attempt to ensure that the ups and downs are less severe than they would be in the absence of government intervention in the economy.

Trump is an idiot to take credit for a good economy or, by the same token, to take the blame for what has happened to the Stock Market in the last three or four sessions. But the moron obviously doesn’t see it that way which means he can be blamed for the LARGEST POINT DROP for the Dow in HISTORY, if he has taken credit for the Market’s positive performance since the 2016 presidential election, which he definitely has.

Just to repeat, the economy moves in cycles. Intervention can be used to even out the ups and downs. However, they cannot be eliminated. Eat shit, Moron-In-Chief.

Inflation is an economic situation where too much money is chasing too few goods which drives prices up due to the laws of supply and demand. In this case, demand for goods bids up prices causing increased inflation, rising prices with the result that the purchasing power of the money falls.

Recession results from an antithetical scenario, in which there is not enough money around which causes prices to either rise less quickly, stabilize or fall. Less demand results in increased rates of unemployment, so characteristic of recessionary periods in the Business Cycle.

It is a Harley trike, 2011. I bought it second hand in the summer of 2014 but didn’t take possession until later in September as it took about 10 weeks for the modifications to be done. In fact, this is the beginning of the fourth year of my ride in this life. When I got the bike which had had one owner prior to my buying it, it had around 24,000 km. (15,000 miles) on it. Now the odometer is approaching 73,000 km., the equivalent of 45,625 miles. I am averaging about 16,000 km. a year, which is 10,000 miles.

I don’t know whether that’s a lot of mileage annually averaged, or not, given the fact that in 2015 and this year, 2018, I have ridden and plan on riding essentially all year round. In 2015, I shipped my bike down from Montreal to Charleston, SC, in mid-January. I then drove down in my Cadillac ATS, stored the car, and took off on my bike.

That time I ended up in Tampa where I stayed for about three weeks, hanging out, riding, discovering the area, meeting people, seeing the Lightning hockey games, some against the Canadiens. How well I remember the Habs being taken out in the playoffs by the talented Tampa Bay squad in six games. I remember one goal in particular in one of the two games that the Canadiens won – one win at home and one win which I was at in Tampa – scored by Max Pacioretty. A beautiful shot.

I also took in some Grapefruit League baseball, spring training time. I went to Lakeland and saw the Tigers and to George Steinbrenner Field either in or very close to Tampa, can’t recall, to see a game the Yankees were playing. I also drove to Dunedin, to see a Jays pre-season game but got so fed up trying to find a place to park my bike that I turned around and went straight back home, to Tampa that is, not to Munt-real, where it’s really too cold to drive a bike in winter.

I also went to Tropicana Field,

in St. Petersburg, across a 14 mile bridge from Tampa, to see a Tampa Rays Grapefruit League game . I had a handicapped parking vignette on my motorcycle but it had expired about a month prior to my going to that game. Fuckers gave me a ticket, $250 USD, which I unhappily paid with a note on the cheque thanking the municipality, or whatever it is, of St. Petersburg for its hospitable nature. In all honesty, I could have and should have taken care of the expired sticker but still.

Speaking of cold, one morning, while at a crumby Day’s Inn in Lake City, FL., I awoke one morning at around 4:30 and discovered frost on my bike which made me nervous because I never had left my bike out and uncovered in cold weather before, and I wasn’t sure that the engine would turn over. So outside I go to start it up.

Long story short, if started alright, first time, but due to carelessness on my part, the bike just took off, with me watching, prone on my on the ground where the bike had tossed me as it took off, as it made a right turn and headed for a little grassy knoll, missing all kinds of parked cars in the lot as well as not hitting anything except two picnic tables – one turned into kindling, the other into lumber – and taking out part of a cord fence – not the one pictured here – in the process.

The motorcycle stalled out, thank God, and came to rest on the knoll. I got it out of there, and then went to inform the boss what had happened. He said that he’d have a look and get back to me.

“Really messed up”, or words to that effect came out of his mouth a little n
while later in the aftermath of his having surveyed the scene. He asked for damages in the amount of $175 USD, the equivalent of around $1000 CAN. 😆 which I happily paid.

View from, and of, the Country Inn (& Suites, may I add), Jacksonville, FL. Another nice run today, from Savannah, GA., to north Florida, a 180 km. (approx. 115 miles), a few stops along the way. Took close to three hours, actually. A light, light shower or two did nothing to dampen my spirits. Heading south is encouraging but I still wore my usual garb, seven layers, masked, helmeted, mitts included. You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to find mitts. My clawed hands make gloves an impossibility and ski mitts are way too thick. I am so careful not to lose my mitts. They’re gold in that they make travel which would without them be impossible, possible.

Just hanging out and relaxing at the hotel, taking it easy, thinking about stuff like freedom which is very important to me. I am completely and totally free, responsible only to myself; the downside is no partner, no kids, grandchildren, sisters, brothers. I will definitely die surrounded by my good and excellent friends but without family. Sometimes I wish I had kids but I opt to think that having taught for 34 years, that, in the words of good pal, Peter Marmorek, I gave at the office.
The up side is the liberty that I experience has allowed me to branch out and to live my life exactly the way I choose. As Johnny Jellybean used to opine, “you never know what lonesome is, till you get to herding cows”.

As Hunter S. Thomson used to write: “Nigger” and that didn’t make him a racist anymore than it makes me one for thinking “nigger” at times when a black man or woman appears in my line of sight. I don’t know why I think like that but according to some niggers that I know and really love, that doesn’t make me a racist. I know what’s in my heart and it is love for Albert, Joan, Phil, Willie, and even the grandson, Cameron, who pissed me off, not to forget about Hilton, (RIP) who got this whole beautiful trip, started. Joan was Hilton’s sister, Albert is her husband, Cameron is their grandson, and Phil is Joan’s brother.
Willie, featured above on his bike, referred to himself as an “old nigger” with only me driving around with him in his Mercedes. He also said that if he was involved in a traffic stop, he would ensure that he kept both hands on the wheel, to avoid getting shot, I suppose. Not to forget my good friends Bonita, Annell, Angela, and Charlene, courtesy of the Comfort Suites, Charleston. Annell and I are pictured here with my bike.
Get over yourselves.
That’s enough truth for today.

View from a hotel window, Savannah, GA, USA.
4th in a series which includes views from hotel windows in Lutherville, MD, Boston, MA, and NYC. Cool run today. 2 1/2 hours, approximately 120 miles from Charleston to Savannah. Thanks for your help Kathleen Cawthorn. I truly appreciate your effort on my behalf. Taking care of business.
Tomorrow I plan to hit Jacksonville, Florida home of the NFL Jaguars. Go Eagles. Fly. Score. Win.
Brady’s the reason I am hoping for a Philly win. For the same reason that many Canadians outside Quebec disliked the National Hockey League Montreal Canadiens during the forties, fifties, sixties and seventies, I don’t like the Patriots because they seemingly never lose.
Ah. The Good Old Days.
Henri Richard, Maurice the Rocket, Dickie Moore, Jacques Plante, Jacques Laperriere, Larry Robinson, Steve Shutt, Guy Lafleur, Jimmy Roberts, Serge Savard, Ken Dryden, Jean Beliveau, Claude Provost, Jean-Guy Talbot, Mike Kean, Saint Patrick, Guy Carbonneau, Doug Harvey, Tom Johnson, Gump Worsley, Vinny Damphousse, Frank and Peter Mahovlich, the list goes on. Who the hell do we have today? Not many. That’s for sure.

Listening to that puke claiming that he has had more “legislative” successes than any government in US history, save Truman’s. That least popular first term president in history just doesn’t get it. There is a difference between legislative achievements, of which this Tax bill is the only one, and the executive branch of government from which all those Executive Orders have emanated. There were actually two other pieces of legislation passed by Congress during this first year, the Gorsuch appointment to the Supreme Court as well as the Russia Sanctions Bill which he signed under duress. Speaking of fake news, listening to that idiot, it was being manufactured right in front of us.
Instead of being a unifying force, he has succeeded in dividing Americans and making many of them uncomfortable, nervous and ill at ease.
This is one very insecure person, with serious psychological issues such as “Why don’t people like me?” Gimme a freaking break.
Read Timothy Snyder’s short and readable book : “On Tyranny. Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century.” It is important that one doesn’t become apathetic and to stay engaged.
Trump has lost the respect of the vast majority of Americans.
Instead of being a unifying force, he has succeeded in dividing Americans and making many of them uncomfortable, nervous and ill at ease.
This is one very insecure person, with serious psychological issues such as “Why don’t people like me?” Gimme a freaking break.
Read Timothy Snyder’s short and readable book : “On Tyranny. Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century.” It is important that one doesn’t become apathetic and to stay engaged.
Trump has lost the respect of the vast majority of Americans.

Music today features Jimi Hendrix’s “Are you experience Different?” Well, are you?

This shot is from Tampa, “winter” 2015.

Annell and I in front of the Comfort Inn and Suites, Charleston, SC, Oct. 30/17
Arrived about an hour ago, pretty cool out there right now, 16 degrees C. with a significant wind which makes biking extremely tiring but I did make it. It took me nine days to do the 1200 miles (around 2000 km.) as I can handle only a 300 – 350 km. ride each day, about 200 miles. Today was really weird. It took me five hours due to the fact that I stopped more than usually, to add layers of clothing*; did about 300 km (approx. 200 miles) a day and I had to lay over twice I think it was, due to inclement weather.
*My seven layers – short-sleeve T, two long-sleeved tops, two sweaters, my leather jacket and a terrific windbreaker which made a huge difference. Actually.

Charleston

Riding my trike … I am really enjoying the bike. Man, I’m telling you. The only real problem is weather. There is the odd issue with the trike, but thank the good Lord that thry’ve only been minor so far. Before leaving Montreal on Saturday, October 21st, I had been having trouble with GPS which kept falling off the wind screen due to the vibrations of 103 cu in (1690 cc.), 1100 lb. beast. That problem was regulated as can be seen below:

I was very lucky weather-wise. It rained twice only during the nine days, once while I was traveling, light rain, short duration and last night. The seven layers I wore kept out the cold but there is still the wind with which I had to contend on today’s ride from Fayetteville to Charleston. Go figure. You would think that the further south one travels it should get warmer unless of course higher elevations come into play further south which was not the case today. The Carolinas are flat, man, some land here is actually below sea level which partly accounts for severe flooding which threatens this part of Ameri-ka.
I actually had to stop twice just to add clothing, my mitts (can’t wear gloves since Scleroderma has done a number on my hands), and an extra sweater.

I have reached far enough south that helmets are not compulsory. I have ridden without a helmet on my last bike trip to the southern states in winter/spring 2015, but only in the cities and towns in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

This is from Lake City, FL on a previous trip. I thought that I would see some Detroit Tiger spring training games in 2015 but the Tigers’ spring training site turns out to be in Lakeland, not Lake City.

[I remember actually making shrieking “Yahoo” or some facsimile thereof, when I crossed the massive, huge and large Mississippi River delta back then.]

On the highways, parkways, freeways, turnpikes, inter-states, expressways and throughways I always wore a helmet. My friend Albert’s neighbour in Summerville, NC, told me when I was staying with Albert and his lively wife, Joan, in 2015, that if you’re driving a motorcycle at a speed of 35 mph or more, it wouldn’t matter if you were wearing a helmet or not, you would be a vegetable or dead. Sounds like an old wives’ tale to me.

This pic is from 2016, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Albert on the left and Willie, the latter over 82 by now, and still riding.

Joan

Willie and I after a ride. What a cool guy. A retired teacher.
He toLd me that he had me in his heart. Likewise, I’m sure, Willie, man. One of the coolest people I have ever met. You’re gonna have to trust my judgement on that.

The taxi driver, Bunmi, drove me home from B & E Stadium in Baltimore, MD, where I had gone to see the Ravens crush the hapless fish 40 to a big fat nothing. He’s an amazing guy as was Mohammad who drove me to the stadium. I asked Bunmi if he wanted to have a look at my trike when we got to the hotel where I was staying in Lutherville, about ten miles north of Baltimore. Trump country, by the way.

So we go round back and when we’re done looking at my motorcycle, I ask him if I should remove my GPS so that it didn’t get ripped off, something I have never done. He goes :
“Take it with you, man. Where do you think you are? Canada?”

Lutherville

I meet many people who want to know about my bike. They also ask me if I drove all the way from Quebec – I have Quebec plates on my bike, “Je me souviens”. The older men, my age and a little older, seem particularly interested, their spouses, not so much. “For ged aboud it”.

The cops came to see me when I was living in Brighton, England, way back in 1971 when I was only 23 years old … I don’t remember why the cops stopped us but they did, in the middle of the night, and they became suspicious when we told them we were headed for Brighton. Turns out we were traveling in the wrong direction. When we were stopped, we only had tastes of some hash … In the end, my friend didn’t score. All I could get then was grass which cost more in England then than it did in Montreal. My friend managed to score a 1/2 kilo in Amsterdam and got busted with it.

“I really question his fitness to be in this office … maybe he’s looking for a way out … I worry about the nuclear codes”… the cheer-leader President. What a fucker …
Trump lacks impulse control, seems to be vengeful, and any president can start a nuclear war without congressional approval. Congress MUST fix this right away. I mean yesterday …
Regardless of all this it is evident that education goes sadly lacking down there and Betsy deVoss ain’t the one to fix it, not even close … He might like the showmanship, the applause, but he is slow to realize the effect of his words on human behaviour …

About ten days ago, this freaking president had the media talking heads going nuts discussing his use of quotation marks in his tweets re. Obama’s “wiretapping”/wiretapping. He has got us fiddling while Rome burns. Wake up, people. This is one dangerous “hombre”. A truly hateful, disgusting human being, with apologies to more “normal” human beings.

I have been quiet lately, while seething inside, watching Trump attack those around him capriciously, placing the United States’ position internationally as the leader and protector of the free world at risk, and the ultimate fate of the free world along with it.
Take a look at his body of “work” since he announced that he was running for the presidency slightly more than two years ago.

The very first thing that happened was his characterization of Mexican immigrants as “… rapists” and criminals. “I suppose some of them are good people”.

That established a pattern of the racism, mysoginy and bigotry which was omnipresent during his campaign. Whether it was his blatant mocking of a physically challenged reporter with whom he disagreed, the insulting of a mother of a member of the armed forces who had been killed while doing active duty overseas, or his wide-ranging prejudicial proposal to ban Moslem immigration to the United States “until we figure out what the hell has been going on”, Trump has demonstrated a reactionary attitude, one designed partly to feather his own nest along with those of his family and associated hangers-on.
He has gone through people like the KFC to which he appears to be partial. He’s actually getting fatter, looking worn and a little fatigued. Not nearly as fatigued as I have become with the rhetoric coming out of the WH. Sean Spicer, James Comey, Reince Priebus, the “Mooch” (after ten days as WH Communications Director; replaced by General John Kelly) – all fired. “You’re fired”. Big joke, eh? And let’s not forget Attorney General Jeff Sessions whose job was hanging by a very thin thread two days ago but things seem to have stabilized at least for the moment on that file at least. Apparently John Kelly had a phone conversation with the Attorney General and assured him that his job was safe.

Taking credit for the positive state of the American economy is a dubious proposition. Since the Industrial Revolution, the economy has always worked in cycles of inflation where demand for goods and services is high, and recession where demand for goods declines, resulting in a falling economy, rising unemployment, decreasing rate of GDP growth, increased expenditures by government in a time of declining tax revenue in all spheres, including those encompassing corporate and privately owned businesses, as well as public and private business organizations. Government fiscal and monetary policies are designed to minimize the negative effects of economic downturns while managing upturns but only to even things out, making sure that the dips and rises are not as extreme. Governments however have not been able to eliminate the actual cycle itself. Things just happen to be good now. Thank your lucky stars, Donny-boy because if the economy does go into a downturn, just watch what happens. You think that approval levels in the high thirties percent is bad? Just you wait.

Trump is a bigot. His proposed restrictions on, and new qualifications for, legal immigration are just another example of his racist orientation. He’s worse than Don Fucking Cherry, for fuck sake. His proposed Muslim ban fits seemlessly into his attitude which is steeped in incredible bigotry and dangerous prejudice. He was a racist business man and today is a racist president. Only the title has changed but the man remains the same delusional fool.

He will probably see his proposed immigration bill defeated on the floor of the Senate. However just to mention one qualification that Trump’s bill proposes is that immigrants to the United States must be able to speak English. What?

Thank goodness that Trump is not intelligent enough to understand the trouble he’s in, and in most cases, it’s his own mouth that put him there… These people would defend Trump even if, in Anderson Cooper’s immortal words, Trump took a dump on his desk… “We (Americans) see ourselves as a city on the hill, a stronghold of democracy, looking out for threats that come from abroad. … human nature is such that American democracy must be defended from Americans who would exploit its freedoms to bring about its end.

It has morphed into a game of cat and mouse, of gotcha, of lies upon lies upon lies. This Trump thing is just becoming ridiculous. If it wasn’t so dangerous, it would be amusing. The man is apparently becoming unhinged, retreating into himself, gaining weight and thereby becoming even fatter – his head included – than before. He is out of touch with reality, neurotic to say the least … Everyday there’s more breaking news, all negative from the Trump persepective. It’s like watching a train wreck or a fire.

US President Donald Trump (L) and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering press statements before an official dinner.Donald Trump makes the wrong impression at Yad Vashem
By Steve Benen

When American presidents travel abroad, especially for the first time, they make a lasting impression. Yesterday, for example, Donald Trump raised more than a few eyebrows with some inexplicable comments about Israeli intelligence, which he soon after followed up by suggesting Israel isn’t in the Middle East.

Today, Trump visited Yad Vashem, Israel’s principal Holocaust memorial and museum – the American president scheduled a brief visit, that did not include a tour of the museum – and did little to improve upon yesterday’s showing.
President Trump’s message in a guestbook at Israel’s main Holocaust memorial and museum has drawn some ridicule for its failure to demonstrate sensitivity to the atrocities memorialized at the site.

“It is a great honor to be here with all of my friends – so amazing + will never forget!” Trump wrote during his visit to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, today.
Raoul Wootliff, a reporter for the Times of Israel, posted on Twitter, “He forgot: ‘See you next summer.’”
It wasn’t long before observers started comparing Trump’s “so amazing” message with the one Barack Obama left when he visited the memorial in July 2008.

“I am grateful to Yad Vashem and all of those responsible for this remarkable institution,” Obama’s note in the guest book read. “At a time of great peril and promise, war and strife, we are blessed to have such a powerful reminder of man’s potential for great evil, but also our capacity to rise up from tragedy and remake our world.”

Obama’s message continued: “Let our children come here, and know this history, so that they can add their voices to proclaim ‘never again.’ And may we remember those who perished, not only as victims, but also as individuals who hoped and loved and dreamed like us, and who have become symbols of the human spirit.”

My point isn’t to mock Trump’s obvious limitations, but rather, to emphasize that moments like these make a difference. The fact that Americans elected an inexperienced television personality to the nation’s highest office meant Trump started his presidency with a credibility deficit, especially abroad. Politico last week quoted a German observer who said of the American president, “People here think Trump is a laughingstock.”

With so much ground to make up, Trump has to work to be taken seriously on the international stage. Today made that task more difficult.

President Trump’s first budget proposes killing 66 federal programs, including the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, the National Wildlife Refuge Fund, and NASA’s Office of Education.